Travel Day, and today at Kealakekua

Yesterday morning before departing Volcano Village we asked our hostess Kathryn for a tutorial, teaching us some basic Volcano rain forest botany. Some corrections to earlier blogs regarding the names of ferns and other plants are pending, but not urgent.

Leaving Volcano the road goes south through the Ka'u desert, a vegetated but relatively sparse and lightly populated area known best for ranching and coffee farming (Ka'u coffee). On the far southeast coast is Na'alehu, which boasts the southernmost restaurant and bakery in the US. We did stop at the bakery and indulge in plain and mango malasadas, and purchased a box of chocolate macadamia nut shortbread for the road. We made it to the next stop with half the box remaining.

Beyond Na'ahelu there is a road due south which goes to South Point, the southernmost point in the United States (usurping Key West). This area is barren, windswept and hot, and for much of the way the road is one lane. Everyone except other tourists seems to know how to pass each other safely. Wind farms are here, and the military used to be but has left. South Point itself is a local hangout on the weekends, where the remnants of old boat hoists and ladders above high cliffs and the superlative fishing serve to congregate them. This is where the nervy, or the foolish, the testosterone-overloaded, or the blitzed depending on point of view, jump off a 50 foot cliff into the ocean below. Dave hasn't decided, yet, whether he is going back down there to do this:

The actual South Point is a few hundred yards south of Idiot Cliff (unofficial name).

From South Point northward up the Kona Coast it takes about an hour to reach Kealakekua. On the way one crosses a broad lava band representing the last flow westward from Mauna Loa. We also can see this flow remnant and almost to South Point from the back porch of our current lodging. Below us to the south we can see pu'uhonua o honaunau (Place of Refuge) and Kealakekua Bay (death place of Captain James Cook). More on these another day.

Michael and Greg are our hosts at Ka'awa Loa Plantation, a renovated house situated about 1000 feet above Kealakekua Bay. Delightful fellows, and Michael actually appeared as a mostly obscured GI extra in "Good Morning Vietnam".

We enjoy the changing light over the bay and the ocean beyond through the day, and the expansive views.

The other guests here at the moment are from Singapore, UK and Luxembourg. This morning (day 2 for this post) we had a lively breakfast conversation with the Singaporeans.

Then, golf on the Mountain Course at Kona Country Club, actually not a private club at all but a public facility.

Lupper was at Jackie Rey's Ohana Grill. We shared spring rolls, hummus and pita, and we each had our own Mai Tai and shared another. The televisions, including ESPN, were focussing on the carnage at the Boston Marathon. So sad.

Now back at Ka'awa Loa, watching the light fade and clouds move in, possibly portending rain. That would be neat.